-PTI Allaying fears of a spurt in public expenditure ahead of Lok Sabha polls, finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said government will not compromise on fiscal discipline, notwithstanding the defeat of Congress in four states, including Delhi and Rajasthan. Inaugurating the Delhi Economic Conclave, Chidambaram blamed the states for "inaction" to check hoarding and said the incumbent government pays a price for high inflation. "The agenda, therefore, will be obvious. At the...

-Live Mint Data indicates that in the presence of a credible alternative, people are unlikely to choose NOTA The recently held Assembly Elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were the first where voters had the option to reject all candidates by voting for "none of the above" (NOTA). The option, however was simply hypothetical-votes marked to "none of the above" would simply be ignored while deciding the winner, and...

-Outlook New Delhi: When it comes to crorepati leaders winning the elections, Delhi seems to have taken the cake among the four states with at least 52 such MLAs in the 70-member strong assembly. While absolute number of MLAs with assets running into crores of rupees may be higher for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the number of constituencies in these two states is also higher at 230 and 200, respectively. Chattisgarh has...

-Outlook The state elections rolled out smoothly, but it's money power which ruled on the ground As we celebrate the smooth working of a massive electoral exercise-simplistically dubbed by many as the semi-final to the greatest show on earth, General Elections 2014-a realisation has dawned that the role of ‘money power' is reaching alarming proportions. Sure, elections are more fool-proof today than in the past, and most (rightly) salute the EC...

-Outlook Jaipur: As BJP wrested power from Congress in Rajasthan today, a total of 25 women candidates emerged victorious in the state. Among the 25 winners elected for the 14th Vidhan Sabha, 19 are from BJP. There were 29 women MLAs in the 13th assembly. Maximum women winners are from BJP, including its chief ministerial candidate Vasundhara Raje. While NPP has two, Congress has one and there is one Independent female winner, two...